


The Reason Caffeine and Candyfloss Should Never Mix

by OreoPromises



Category: B1A4, K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Awkward CNU eomma, Drinking, Drinking Games, Gongchan is a flirt, Jinyoung is a demon, M/M, Poor squirrel, Ring of Fire, Sandeul is off his head
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-05 04:29:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10297538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OreoPromises/pseuds/OreoPromises
Summary: Baro is bored during his night shift at a cafe in Seoul (what cafe even has to be open at this hour?), with only Gongchan, fellow barista and flirty-little-shit, for company. At least he's bored until a very drunk gang of 3 boys come stumbling through the door and coax (or was that Gongchan?) him into a late night game of Ring Of Fire....





	

**Author's Note:**

> L

Baro played with the keys of the till he had been staring at for hours now, contemplating the perfect murder. It had been 4 hours since his shift at the coffee shop had started and it being thursday, at 12 midnight, he really had no idea why his boss had even given anyone shifts at this time, especially since most of the shop’s adolescent regulars would be home studying for the quickly approaching CSAT next week. In a way he almost welcomed how dead the place had been the last 3 hours- if he had to listen to anymore of Gongchan’s sleazy one-liners directed towards every customer to walk through the door he wasn’t sure which baristas the shop would lose first. He had saw a drama once where a teacup had been used as a weapon, he was sure he could do it.

  
Just as Gongchan turned from where he had been wiping the counter, for the thousandth time, and opened his mouth after no doubt deciding Baro was a good enough target in his boredom, the bell of the shop rang to announce the arrival of welcomed customers. Or so Baro thought. Even at midnight in this hell-hole, Baro maybe wouldn’t use the word welcome to describe the gang of ripped-jeaned, hair-dyed teens falling over each other in their drunkenness. At least the middle one was falling over- the one with bubblegum pink hair and a hat framing his handsome face- even with each arm being held securely by the other two boys. As they drew closer to the middle of the shop, the swaying mop of candyfloss swung around to face the shops right wall and the bar where Baro and Gongchan watched open-mouthed and, giggling a ridiculously melodious laugh for someone so drunk, he swung his friends over to sit at the counter. This was the only part of the bar to remain illuminated, the rest of the room dark and still, and in the new light Baro could see the groups’ faces much more clearly.

The candyfloss was, it turned out, more hot than handsome, with smoky eyeshadow just at the corner of his eyes magnifying them in a way that made him seem almost ethereal, along with his many silver rings and dark hat. To his left stood an extremely skinny boy. He didn’t seem to be drunk at all, at first- and then Baro saw the glint in his tilted, fox-like eyes. This seemed to heighten the sense of danger this one gave off, with his choppy hair dyed various shades of brown, and cheekbones that looked harsh enough to cut someone accompanying the sharp, cunning eyes fixated on Baro. Next to him was the last of the gang- the tallest of the bunch was undoubtedly drunk, swaying a little as he stood, cheeks slightly flushed to compliment charmingly his vivid red hair, falling messily over his forehead as if he had sprinted to the shop through strong gales. His friendly eyes slipped down, bashfully avoiding the glare of Gongchan. The younger barista had moved to look over Baro’s shoulder at the ensemble, a slight smile playing at his lips. He stared as the fox-looking one, wearing a leather jacket and shirt cut far too low to be in Gongchan’s presence, pulled a deck of cards out of his pocket and asked in a smooth, nasally voice ‘No manager here tonight?’

  
Baro gulped slowly before replying ‘The shop was quiet so we were trusted to simply finish our shift in an hour and close up ourselves.’ He decided he didn’t like the smile from the man, who was now shuffling the immaculate cards nonchalantly.  
“Baro. Gongchan.” he addressed each boy, reading the small name tags pinned to their white shirt- ‘I’m Jinyoung.’  
‘And we’re bored.’ Gongchan cut in, the lilting voice he used on customers making its reappearance effortlessly. Damn him. Baro wished he could leave the shop now, the air was changing and he disliked the energy sparking between these strangers. Bad things were going to follow, he was sure of it.  
‘I can help with that. I was just about to ask if you would join us in a harmless game of cards, we can explain the rules to you- it might take some of the stress off working late.’ He spoke eloquently, powerfully, through his lies and Baro caught himself almost believing he needed stress-relief from the absolutely empty, peaceful shop. Gongchan, it seemed, didn’t care much. ‘Sure- though I don’t think I’ll need the lessons.’

  
The candyfloss squealed excitedly and ran alarmingly from his stool to the table near it, in the very back of the shop, collapsing violently into a booth of black leather. A lamp leaned against the wall and the boy started to poke it, as if thinking this would make it light. The tall boy- looking alarmed at the sudden eruption of movement- shook his head, sighing as he took a seat next to the boy, kindly flipping the lamp’s small switch. ‘Sandeul really..’ The boy grumbled as he went- so that was candyfloss’ name. ‘HYUNG’ the smaller boy squealed, flinging his arms dramatically around the other's shoulders as a smile broke across his face. How much had these guys been drinking?

  
Baro didn’t have much time to think as the one named Jinyoung roughly grabbed his arm, hauling him after the treasonous Gongchan, slipping happily into the opposite side of the booth, staring openly at Sandeul the whole time. The older of the pair again turned his eyes away, blushing furiously. After pushing Baro quite forcefully next to Gongchan, Jinyoung positioned himself between the two sets of friends, stool at the front of the table. Brilliant, Baro was trapped. Trapped away from the counter and responsibility, between these intriguing strangers and his very unpredictable dongsaeng…. Ok, so maybe he didn’t hate it that much, but he was still way too nervous at the hyena at the head of the tables smile and the ring of cards being formed in front of him. Oh no. He knew this game (or he should- the last time he had played it was during a very regrettable night out with Gongchan, which he had tried his best to forget, and he wasn’t sure how many of the rules he still knew).

  
Gongchan hummed low next to him, pleased (Baro noticed from the corner of his eye that the unnamed boy swallowed not too subtly) ‘Ring of fire?’ His voice was higher again, excitement drawing it up to it’s natural pitch.  
Jinyoung flashed a sharp grin in his direction ‘I guess we can skip the rules then.’ He flipped a card and, as if on cue, his two accomplices produced two large bottles of alcohol seemingly from thin air. Jinyoung spun around to face the bar again, leaning shamelessly over the counter to grab four glasses from beneath the marked marble.  
‘Need any help there?’ Gongchan unsurprisingly drawled as Jinyoung reached further and his shirt lifted slightly to reveal his bare skin. Sandeul giggled from the corner, hiccuping and pointing to Gongchan - ‘I like this one. The squirrels too quiet’. He turned a pout to Baro.  
‘Oh, don’t worry Sandeul, I’m sure he’ll liven up like Shinwoo always does.’ Jinyoung stared as he slid a glass to Baro, sitting back down.  
‘Shinwoo, huh?’ Gongchan addressed the blushing boy for the first time, eyes flitting over his face. ‘How much do you liven up, I wonder.’ He bit his lip as he said the last line, making the other actually shift in his seat. Baro half heartedly slapped him as he laughed breathily.

  
‘What’s your card Jinyoung…. hyung?’ He said, trying to save the oldest at the table from actually falling of his seat, or spilling the drinks he was helping Sandeul pour.  
Meeting Baro’s eyes with a grin that almost seemed a praise, Jinyoung turned the card in front of him over. Ace. What! He had picked the worst card on his first go, and the laugh escaping his lips told Baro it hadn’t been a complete coincidence. Crap- he seemed like the best drinker of the bunch and ace meant waterfall, they would all have to drink until he chose to stop and Sandeul was already making weird ‘woo’ noises from the corner of the booth, throwing his head to the side with the sounds and hitting Shinwoo in the shoulder. Jinyoung gripped his glass easily and drank until it was empty, staring straight at Gongchan until slamming it back on the table menacingly. If he was testing the attractive youngster, he wouldn’t be disappointed- Baro knew far too well how good Gongchan was at drinking games.

Five cards later and Sandeul’s hat had slipped over his face, the only thing telling the group he was still awake, and not asleep in Shinwoo’s lap, the tiny hiccups that came from his direction. Pitying him, Baro quickly got up and made him the largest cup of coffee he had made all day. For a while all Sandeul did was play with the foam on top, flicking it in Jinyoung’s direction, until Shinwoo confiscated his glass after Gongchan pulled another ace from the pack. As Sandeul slumped and stared at his coffee distantly, the older one placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Sandeul picked an 8 and pointed at Baro again as he sipped his coffee noisily. He had been getting Baro to drink at every opportunity, and Gongchan was enjoying pouring him refills too much. Sandeul turned out to be exceptionally bad at the game and soon finished his second coffee- Jinyoung hadn’t changed at all since the game started and when he next pulled a 4 he started to laugh snidely.

‘Whores.’ He mouthed devilishly at Shinwoo.  
In a slightly childish voice Sandeul explained ‘Shinwoo has to drink because he’s a girl for the night.’  
Baro blinked. ‘Should I be concerned about how much caffeine you’re taking in?’ This question was more directed towards Shinwoo, who seemed to be the most responsible of the group (though Jinyoung clearly held the most power). The boy simply drank though, throwing him a ‘even-if-i-explained-it-wouldn’t-make-anymore-sense-so-I’d-just-remain-in- ignorant-bliss’ look. Beside Baro, Gongchan murmured something about how he hoped Shinwoo would fulfil his role well, and the subject almost spat out his drink in the coughing fit that ensued.

Jinyoung pulled another card, a 2 and made Gongchan drink again- something about defending his friend’s honour- before Baro pulled a 3 and finished his own second glass. Jinyoung watched him as he wiped his lips competitively and refilled his own glass this time. Gongchan took this time to play his earlier 7 and whip his hand up to the ceiling, the other three free-handed players quickly following, making Baro drink again. Sandeul sadly picked a 9 and immaturely screamed ‘Sex!”, erupting in a soundless laughing fit at how hilarious he was.  
‘Vex.’ Shinwoo quickly returned.  
Jinyoung turned to Baro, placing one hand on the barista’s thigh, the other tracing his ear faintly as he said his own word- ‘Pets’.

The little shit.

Baro had to drink again, mouth gaping but mind completely blank, as he picked a queen from the circle. He looked questioningly at Shinwoo, avoiding Jinyoung desperately. ‘Two fingers.’ He said, holding his hand up to show Baro. ‘Drink two fingers width from your glass’ he hastily amended as Gongchan hummed again in the corner, training glinting eyes on Shinwoo. Gongchan then fittingly made Shinwoo drink again, pulling out a 4, making sure his fingers ghosted Shinwoo’s where they lay near his glass.

Sandeul turned the first Jack of the night. He sat up straight, reveling in the power the card granted him, as Baro silently prayed he showed more mercy than Jinyoung would. ‘Baro switch seats with Shinwoo noona, Jinyoung down your drink and Gongchan keep up the good work- if you miss a chance at another perverted line, however, Shinwoo removes a piece of clothing.’ Shinwoo froze in his seat. Sandeul simply pushed him out of the booth.  
Jinyoung gasped putting his glass back to the table. ‘That can definitely be blamed on the caffeine.’ He said, watching as Sandeul practically buzzed in his seat.

It got back around to Sandeul before yet another 4 was pulled out. Shinwoo watched Gongchan nervously as he reached for his glass, it turned to pleading as the glass reached his lips- the maknae just locked eyes with him blankly. His mouth stayed firmly shut. Sheepishly Shinwoo removed his dark jacket, revealing a rather tight fit white shirt beneath as Jinyoung whistled from next to him. Sandeul was dying next to Baro and when Gongchan grabbed Shinwoo’s discarded jacket and put it on over his own shirt, reaching over to undo the top button of Shinwoo’s shirt shamelessly, Baro couldn’t help but join in laughing. Shinwoo was visibly having some trouble breathing. Baro remotely regretted wishing Gongchan would shut up earlier- even silent the boy was still flirting, but this was way worse... for Shinwoo at least. The caffinated ball of candyfloss seemed to be enjoying himself immensly.

  
By the end of the night things had only gotten wilder: Shinwoo had gotten lucky when Baro had argued that cuff links and socks did count as seperate items of clothing, but JInyoung had given a rather innapropriate (not unexpectedly) lap-dance to Sandeul, Gongchang had spent three rounds speaking in random German phrases and Baro had pulled the final king card. Alarmingly this meant Jinyoung simply handing him a vodka bottle, but Baro's fear dissapated slightly when he realised the botlle was practically empty anyway.

***  
His next shift at the coffee shop was far more sane, when Baro was back at work the next weekend. No alcohol or rhyming games interupted (he stubbornly refused to think 'brightened') his normal hours. He had actually grown to miss the odd band of strangers he hadn't seen since that night- until he pulled a discarded recepit towards himself over the counter and saw scrawled on it (above an address) in a strangely elegant chaotic hand:  
'Girls night out- come tonight, 9 'olock, or Sandeul may have another one of his breakdowns, and they're always messy.  
P.S. Bring Gongchan, Shinwoo might get too comfortable.'  
Throwing his head up quickly, Baro just had time to glimpse a tall mop of fair hair and sharp cheebones dissapear into the crowds outside the cafe. Smiling, he waited eagerly for the end of his shift.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading guys, I now have a new instagram where I'd love to get to know yah (instagram: andthesunranon)  
> xx,  
> L


End file.
